barbe
\baʁb\
The verdict
“barbe” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,645. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #4,645
- frequency rank, French
- 4,251
- “B” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - De Barbarie.
Corpus desk
Index FR-barbe · barbe · French
barbe · rank #4,645 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,645
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,251
- PHOTO-FINISH blonde
Nearest frequency peer: blonde (+1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “barbe”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- ampleur
ampleur
95,360 corpus weight
- apparaissent
apparaissent
95,359 corpus weight
- arrivera
arrivera
95,358 corpus weight
- barbe
barbe
95,356 corpus weight
- blonde
blonde
95,355 corpus weight
- boule
boule
95,353 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “barbe” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | barbe |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \baʁb\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #4,645 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “barbe” sits in French frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around barbe (IPA \baʁb\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #4,645 among 4,251 “B” headwords. Dominant gloss: "De Barbarie.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for barbe, with forms such as "abrbe", "babre", and "barbbe". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bre", "Base", "bébé", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is barbe, spelled B-A-R-B-E.
Definition
- 1De Barbarie.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how barbe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Le chevalier avait à peine terminé son court repas, que son domestique lui annonça que cinq hommes, conduisant chacun un coursier barbe, désiraient lui parler.
Il se faisait déjà tard, et l’on devait repartir le matin de très-bonne heure, car le château de Bruyères était assez éloigné, et si un cheval barbe peut, par les chemins de traverse, franchir aisément une distance de trois ou quatre lieues, un chariot pesamment chargé et traîné sur une grande route sablonneuse, par des bœufs déjà fatigués, y met un espac…
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- abrbe
- babre
- barbbe
- bareb
- barrbe
- bbarbe
- brabe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of barbe - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "barbe"?
What does "barbe" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "barbe"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "barbe", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "barbe". Here's where to go from here.
- "barbe" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "bre". View pair
- 7 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #4,645 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.